Improvement in corn-planters



G. A. BRUCE.

Seed-Planter.

No. 10,064. Patented Oct. 4, 1853.

AM PHOTO-LITHD. C0. N5. (USBORNE'S PRUCESSJ UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE..

GARDNER A. BRUCE, OF MEOHANIOSBURG, ILLINOIS.

IMPROVEMENT IN CORN-PLANTERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 10,064, dated October 4, 1853.

To all. lwhom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GARDNER A. BRUCE, of Mechanicsburg, in the county ot' Sangamon and State of illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Drills for PlantingOorn and other Seeds; and Idohereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription ofthe construction and opera tion ot' the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making a partof this specification, in which- Figure lis plan or top view ot my improved drill. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same. Fig. 3 is a "ertical section ot' one ot the hoppers, showing the. manner in which the seed is distributed or passed from the hoppers to the earth. The hopper is bisected in a direction transversely of the frame of the drill.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in each of the several tigures.

This invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in drills for plantingcoru and other seeds.

My invention consists in a peculiar manner ot' distributing.,r the seed-viz., by means ot' a small balance-beam 'placed in the hopper, said beam having wires attached to each end, which, as the beam is operated, ttorwork alternately in apertures in the bottom of the hopper and properly adjust the seed in the apertures of the droppingslide. This will be fully de scribed hereinafter.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

A represents the 'frame of the machine, having a draft-pole, B', attached to its tron-t crosspiece.

B B are furrowshares secured to projections O'O underneath the side pieces of the frame A.

Directly behind thefurrow-shares are placed two hoppers, D D, one behind each share. These hoppers are secured ou the upper suri'aces ot' the side pieces ofthe frame. Underneath the bottoms ot the hoppers there is a droppin gslide,E,which extends entirely across the frame, the ends ot' the slide passing under the bottoms ot' the two hoppers. The slideE has a reciprocating motion communicated to it by means ot the lever F, having its fulcrum at a.. each two holes or apertures,b b,through them, and each end ot' the dropping-slide E has also The bottoms of the hoppers D D havetwo holes, c c, through it, the holes cc through each end ot' the dropping-slide beingonly onehalt' the distance apart that the holes b b in the bottoms otl the hoppers are, as seen in Fig. 3. Through each side piece ofthe frame there is a hole or aperture, d, extending entirely through it in a vertical direction, and immediately underneath each hopper D, as seen in Fig. 3.

G G are balance-beams, o'ne in each hopper D. These beams vibrate in rods eve, and to each end ot` the beams there are attached vertical rods H H, the lower ends of which work or t alternatelyin theholes b bin the bottoms ot' the hoppers. The balance-beams are operated by means of connecting-rods I I, a rod I being attached to the center of the upper part of each beam, and the opposite end ot' the rod being' attached to the dropping-slide E, as seen in Figs. l and 3.

The operation ofthe distributing apparatus will be readily understood. As the machine is drawn along the furrow-shares B B open the furrows that are to receive the seed, and the seed is dropped by working laterally to the'lelt and to the right the lever F by hand. This working ot' the lever F communicates to the droppingslide E a reciprocating motion. By referring to Fig. 3 it will be seen that when one ofthe holes c in the dropping-slide is over the hole d in the side piece of the frame the. other hole c is under one ot' the holes b in the bottom ot` the hopper. Now, when one hole c is over the hole d a seed drops from the hole c through the hole d into the furrow, and one ofthe rods H is forcing a seed from the hopper into the other hole c through the hole Z1. Thus the rods H H ot' each hopper work alternately downward and force the seed into the holes c, the seed from the holes cfalling through the hole d into the furrow as each hole c is brought over the hole d. The device in both hoppers is precisely the same. Thus it will be seen that the seed, by means ot' the balancebeams and rods, will be properly adjusted in the holes of the dropping-slide, and there can be no danger ot' the holes being clogged or stopped with seed, as the rods will clear them. Behind the hoppers D D are placed coveringshares J J' J J, two ou each side ot the frame, as seen in Fig. l. These covering-shares are attached to projections K K K K, which are secured to a beam, L, which ts in sockets at the ends of the side pieces of the frame. The beam L turns in the sockets. At about the center of this beam L there is a slotted arm, M, (seen in Figs. 1 and 2,) projecting upward from the beam. Through this slotted lever a cross-piece, N, passes, the ends ot' which work 'in the outer ends of levers O 0, having their peoe N from rising` in the slot in the arm M.,

Now, by placing this pin h through the arm M atabigh orlow point the covering-shares will be elevated or depressed in a corresponding degree and will enter the earth to the desired depth; and by depressing or throwing back the arm M sufciently far the covering-shares may be elevated so as to clear the earth entirely. The covering-shares of course throw the earth into the furrou's and upon the seed deposited therein. The object in elevating the covering-shares entirely above the earth is to prevent the shares from coming in contact with the earth when the machine is beingrenioved from one place to another.

I do not claim the droppingslide nor any peculiar arrangement thereof, .as they are used in many drills, and are constructed and operated substantially as the one herein' shown; but,

Having described the nature and operation ot' my invention, what I claim as new, and desirc to secure by Letters Patent, is

The employment or use ot' the balancebeams G G, with the rods H H attached to them, and

operatingasdescribed, for the purpose of properly adjusting the seed in theholes of the droppingslide, and also to prevent the clogging of the saine, as shown and described in the body of the specification.

GARDNER A. BRUCE.

Witnesses:

A. T. THOMPSON, HARvv THoMPsoN. 

